How Windermere High swimming’s camaraderie led to 2023 championships

On Nov. 11, a post went out on the Windermere High School Facebook page that started by stating this: “A historic day for Windermere Athletics.”

That post referenced the performance of the school’s swimming and diving team at the FHSAA Class 4A state championship meet the day before. 

For the first time in school history, the Wolverines’ boys and girls swimming teams brought home multiple gold medals from the state championship meet. 

More specifically, the two teams combined to win six total individual and relay state championships.

The girls team finished as the state runners-up in the overall team competition with a score of 302 points, and the boys finished third with 231 points. 

Coach Kyle Goller said the team’s ability to come together — despite being competitors on the club circuit — was crucial to its 2023 success.

“What makes our team pretty unique is that a lot of them swim on different club teams around the Orlando area, and for them to all mesh as one high school team — to swim this well and swim this fast — made it easy to be successful,” Goller said. “A lot of them have swum with or against (one another) for the past like seven, eight years. … So having them race (one another) and feed off (one another) on the pool deck all year round just makes it better once they come swim for the high school. It just makes it easier for them to bond and have that camaraderie.”

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Goller said each swimmer’s individual character also helped them bond as teammates.

“We have a lot of great kids (who) are very supportive of one another and positive toward one another,” he said. “It’s not just one person, either. It’s a collective whole. Our team captains for this year really helped the morale of the team. … So, it was just the group as a whole — both the girls and guys — coming together as a team.”

Not only has this season been historic because of the chemistry and camaraderie this talented bunch has been able to create, but also because this is only the beginning for this Windermere swim team.

“We’re only losing like two senior boys and two girls,” he said. “Not only do we bring back our juniors, (but also) we have some young up-and-coming kids that can turn some heads next year.”

For the boys, that includes juniors Ryan Erisman, Walter Kueffer and Roberto Zarate — who all played significant roles in the boys team’s third-place finish. For the girls, juniors Carolina Daher and Maddie Reynolds and sophomore Lucy Megginson will return, as will freshmen Lilliana Krstolic and Aidyn Reese.

THE RESULTS

Boys

• Team finished in third place (231 points) in the FHSAA Class 4A overall competition.
• Ryan Erisman, Walter Kueffer, Lawson Seward and Roberto Zarate won the 200-yard freestyle relay state championship.
• Ian Cazella, Adrian Garcia, Walter Kueffer and Lawson Seward finished in second place in the 200-yard medley relay.
• Rory Connelly, Ryan Erisman, Walter Kueffer and Roberto Zarate finished in second place in the 400-yard freestyle relay. 
• Ryan Erisman, junior, won both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle state championships.
• Walter Kueffer, junior, won the 50-yard freestyle state championship.
• Roberto Zarate, junior, finished in second place in the 100-yard butterfly.

Girls

• Team finished in second place (302 points) in the 4A overall competition.
• Brooke Larweth, Addison Reese, Aidyn Reese and Hollace Stokes won the 200 freestyle relay state championship.
• Carolina Daher, Lilliana Krstolic, Lucy Megginson and Maddie Reynolds finished in second place in the 400 freestyle relay state championship.
• Brooke Larweth, Addison Reese, Aidyn Reese and Maddie Reynolds finished in second place in the 200 medley relay state championship.
• Addison Reese, senior and Florida signee, won the 100 butterfly individual state championship and finished in second place in the 100-yard breaststroke by a little more than two-tenths of a second.

MORE TOP PERFORMERS FROM THE AREA

Boys

• Lake Buena Vista junior Nathan Frette won the Class 2A one-meter diving state championship with a score of 520.45.
• Olympia junior Tristan Bonnet-Eymard finished third in the 4A 100-yard freestyle.
• Windermere Prep’s Lucas Cornell, Christian Magruder, Alejandro Varon and Walter Zeman finished third in the Class 1A 200 freestyle relay.
• Windermere Prep’s Christian Magruder, Kaua Pimental, Alejandro Varon and Walter Zeman finished fourth in the 400 freestyle relay.

Girls

• Foundation’s Emma Sundermeyer, an Alabama signee, finished second in the 200-yard individual medley and fourth in the 500 freestyle at the 1A state championships. 
• West Orange’s Ella Klyce, Hannah Le, Kayla McKinney and Veronica Shulman finished third in the 4A 400 freestyle relay. 
• West Orange’s Ella Klyce, Hannah Le, Kaya Robertson and Veronica Shulman finished fourth in the 4A 200 freestyle relay.